I'm in the Zeiss Conquest camp as well. I've got two of them. Each time I bought one I did side by side comparisons with the Leupolds, and in my opinion the Zeiss glass was better. Very clear, vey bright, very sharp, very solid, and like Leupold, Zeiss offers a transferrable lifetime warranty. Still, the Leupolds were very nice and I've never personally met a Leupold owner who wasn't pleased with them. I myself prefer a one piece design; say what you want about three piece designs working fine if they are machined right, I work in a manufacturing environment and see parts that are machined incorrectly every day.

If you want to save money on Leupolds, you might try bottom fishing on eBay for one. I've read many posts from guys who got bargain Leupolds on eBay and sent it back to Leupold for some sprucing up, free of charge.